Bringing it home
Across the region, state and even the country, a growing challenge of homelessness, lack of affordable housing and income disparity is requiring our policymakers, elected officials and leaders to work across silos and join together in devising new tools to address these age-old but fundamentally pressing social problems.
In the city of Long Beach, for instance, we are one of only a few cities in the state that has a bureau or division devoted strictly to the homeless population through the Continuum of Care led by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Homeless Services Division (HSD), and Long Beach is one of only three city-run health departments in California. With 300 employees located in nine sites throughout the city, DHHS operates with a $117-million annual budget, 99 percent of which comes from federal, state, county and private funds, allowing us to better engage with our neighbors, businesses and community partners.
The recently released 2017 Biennial Homeless Count findings reveal a 21-percent reduction in the total number of persons experiencing homelessness in Long Beach, and a 26-percent reduction in chronic homeless persons. The notable decrease in homelessness in Long Beach can be attributed to our innovative models of outreach, such as the Quality-of-Life and the HEART Teams comprised of sworn peace officers and firefighters in conjunction with a Department of Mental Health clinician, and a well-coordinated system of care through evidence-based best practices, a Housing First approach and the deployment of a coordinated entry system.
And while citywide homelessness is down, the results also show a dispersion of homelessness across the City since 2013, particularly along multi-jurisdictional corridors and waterways. Solving these societal complexities does not take place in a vacuum, rather it takes a multitude of partners working across many spheres and with many lenses. On Tuesday, May 2, the council is set to hear from staff on the proposed 2017 Report on Revenue Tools and Incentives for the Production of Affordable and Workforce Housing. Your feedback is not only welcomed, but vital to how we continue to address such important local community matters.
Stacy Mungo
Long Beach Councilmember
Fifth District
